Death festival is taking place in Haverfordwest

AN EVENT to help people talk about death and grief is taking place in Haverfordwest with four days of talks, conversations, films, art workshops, installations.

The Haverfordwest Death Literacy Festival is part of the nationwide Dying Matters Awareness Week, which runs from May 13-19.

The Festival runs from today (Wednesday, May 15) to Saturday, May 18, and will be based in the Riverside Shopping Centre at the spacetocreate gallery and in the new library and also around the town.

There will also be a special half day conference on compassionate communities in the Pembrokeshire CC Archives, Prendergast to hear of compassionate people and groups in Pembrokeshire supporting their communities at times of crisis.

The theme for this year’s Dying Matters campaign is ‘Are We Ready’, and looks at the practical and emotional steps everyone needs to take to be ready for the end of their lives.

Opinion polls show that only about a third of people have written a will or thought about their funeral, and even fewer have thought about their end of life care, or made a decision about organ donation.

A collective of compassionate community volunteers have planned this special accessible event for everyone.

Dying Matters is run by national hospice and palliative care charity Hospice UK, and brings together a broad coalition of organisations related to dying and bereavement, such as hospices, solicitors, funeral directors and grief support services.

Tracey Bleakley, the CEO of Hospice UK said: “I hope many people will take advantage of this chance to talk about a difficult topic in a friendly and supportive way. It isn’t easy to talk about death, but it’s important that we all do.”

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